Sustainable Business Podcast by Innovation Forum

The risks from hidden companies in palm oil supply chains

Aid Environment’s Tim Steinweg talks to Toby Webb about the new report from Chain Reaction Research that highlights the use of shadow companies in the palm oil sector. Steinweg argues that a number of large players in the palm oil sector work with associated companies, frequently owned by members of the same family. These shadow companies have allegations of deforestation levelled at their palm plantations – hence the big companies are able to be able to service the ‘no deforestation’ markets while subsidiary companies continue to cut down trees.

Why smallholder land tenure is a key supply chain challenge

IDH Indonesia’s Fitrian Ardiansyah speaks to Toby Webb about how companies can best work with smallholders to boost farm livelihoods and counter deforestation. Ardiansyah argues that helping smallholder farmers to gain land ownership certificates is crucial, helping them unlock finance options and access to markets. Getting from pilot projects to real impact at scale is, as ever, a major challenge.

How to capture supplier data more effectively

Laura Houghton, manager, global customer success and marketing for Segura and Simon Nicholls, managing partner, Weir T-S, talk with Ian Welsh about how new technology can enable retailers to have confidence that their suppliers are sourcing from where they say they are, and to help mitigate modern slavery risks in supply chains. They discuss the challenges of interacting with some suppliers, such as smallholder farmers, who may have no access themselves to technology, and how better data processing can help make auditing processes more valuable.

Segura and Weir T-S were sponsors of the recent Innovation Forum conference on business and modern slavery in New York. 

Weekly podcast: how to use natural capital accounting to drive success, and what the finance sector can do for palm oil

This week: Mark Gough from the Natural Capital Coalition explains to Ian Welsh the real benefits for companies to include natural capital calculations in their business planning. At the recent RSPO meeting in Paris Toby Webb met with Elisabeth Hipeau from BNP Paribas, who described how the finance sector can help support sustainable palm oil and combat deforestation. And in New York at Innovation Forum’s conference on business and modern slavery recently Ulula founder Antoine Heuty spoke to Ian Welsh about how companies can identify vulnerable people in their supply chains and engage with them. Plus: new Adidas pledges, California and the UK emissions success, and why respecting indigenous rights will help preserve essential landscapes.

Hosted by Ian Welsh.

Is the ICT sector tackling forced labour risks?

Kilian Moote, project director for Know the Chain, takes Ian Welsh through his organisation’s latest research benchmarking the world’s 40 largest hi-tech companies and what they are doing about the human rights and forced labour risks in their supply chains. Typically, consumer facing brands score well – with Intel, HP and Apple leading the way – and the more anonymous not so well.

Novo Nordisk: how the SDGs are shaping the future of corporate behaviour

Susanne Stormer, vice-president corporate sustainability, Novo Nordisk explains to Ian Welsh why the sustainable development goals seem to have caught the imagination, arguing that they provide the roadmap that business require to establish their corporate purpose. While they are no panacea, the SDGs provide a framework that all actors can use to collaborate to develop effective sustainability. The fact that business was involved in their creation is a key point in their effectiveness.

How to deliver data-driven impact decisions

Richa Bajpai, founder of Goodera, talks with Ian Welsh about the challenges companies face measuring the impact of their sustainability functions and programmes. Bajpai outlines some trends in how businesses are tracking and measuring performance, as well as identifying the right partners on-the-ground for project implementation.

Goodera was a sponsor of Innovation Forum's recent impact and measurement conference in London.

The sprint to 2020: Partnerships in action to end commodity-driven deforestation.

In this webinar, the expert panel discuss examples of partnership in action to end commodity-driven deforestation, something that is particularly pressing given how close we are getting to 2020 – a deadline for the implementation of many corporate commitments on supply chain deforestation. The panel also reflect on the work of TFA2020 and in particular its new annual report – titled the Sprint to 2020.

Panel: Marco Albani, TFA 2020; Samuel Avaala, Benso Oil Palm Plantation; Gita Syahrani, Lingkar Temu Kabupaten Lestari; amd Iván Darío Valencia, Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, Government of Colombia.

Hosted by Ian Welsh.

Weekly podcast: how to boost smallholder livelihoods, and modern slavery risk trends to watch

This week: IDH Indonesia’s Fitrian Ardiansyah speaks with Innovation Forum’s Toby Webb on how companies can best work with smallholders to boost farm livelihoods and countering deforestation. And Yousuf Aftab from human rights specialists Enodo Rights debates trends in how modern slavery risks are evolving for companies with Ian Welsh. Plus Starbucks new plastic pledges, Tesco’s new soy sourcing plan, why some retailers are dropping Nestlé products and mica supply risks.

Hosted by Ian Welsh

Palm oil’s implementation versus commitments gap

Imperial College’s Josh Lyons-White discusses with Toby Webb a new study into barriers for palm oil sector companies to implement their zero deforestation commitments. While Lyons-White cautions against over-simplification of palm oil’s hugely challenging supply chains, the barriers can be summarised as relating to cost, complexity and collaboration. He argues that for brands with palm oil in their products, finding the necessary leverage to change the market is a real problem. Even at an EU level, the impact of a ban on palm oil would not be that significant when that market is compared with India.